Mickey Callaway reserved the cleanup spot for the owner of the lowest batting average and fewest home runs of any Mets position player in Tuesday’s starting lineup.

Robinson Cano then reinforced the manager’s belief that the aging, eight-time All-Star still belongs in the heart of the order — and convinced countless more.

After spending nine years building a Hall of Fame case — and winning a Home Run Derby —while wearing pinstripes in the Bronx, Robinson Cano ended up producing his first-ever three-home run game in Queens, steering a season’s worth of animosity from Citi Field crowds into standing ovations, while driving in every run during the Mets’ 5-2 win over the Padres on Tuesday night.

Cano, who went 4-for-4, tied a career low by hitting four home runs prior to the All-Star break. Over the past nine games, the second baseman has hit five.

The bullpen briefly derailed the energy of the night, with Justin Wilson walking the first two batters in the ninth and Edwin Diaz allowing a run-scoring double, but the closer recovered to collect his 22nd save.

In the fourth, Cano blasted a 2-0 changeup from Rookie of the Year candidate Chris Paddack into the second deck in right field. In the sixth, Cano extended the lead to three with a two-run shot to right, knocking Paddack from the game. In the seventh, he completed one of his best nights in baseball, taking southpaw Logan Allen deep to right for another two-run shot.

“He’s always gonna be able to hit,” Callaway said before the game. “These Hall of Fame-type hitters, they don’t lose that ability to hit. Are they gonna go through probably rougher patches as they get older? Yes, that’s just reality but you’re gonna look at the end of most of these years and he’s going to have some pretty good years because he can just flat-out hit.”

That one-time fact felt like fiction most of this season, as Cano was routinely booed by fans, lambasted for his lack of hustle and made the face of Brodie Van Wagenen’s disastrous offseason decisions.

On June 27, the career .302 hitter was batting .222. Now, he’s hitting .254, having gone 13-for-38 (.342) in 10 games since the All-Star break.

“He’s been through ups and downs at the plate, obviously, but I think when he’s going he can still be an elite hitter,” Callaway said. “That we’ve definitely seen. We saw it coming out of spring training, Then he went through a little bit of a lull, and now it seems like he’s swinging bat like that in the past month or so.”

On the mound, Jason Vargas gave the Mets everything they needed.

With just a week until the July 31 trade deadline, the veteran lefty delivered an enticing showcase performance for contending teams, and helped the Mets recover from a trio of extra-inning losses in San Francisco, by allowing one hit and striking out eight over six shutout innings.

Vargas (5-5), who posted a 5.77 ERA in his disastrous first season with the team, currently holds a 3.96 ERA, the Mets’ second-best mark by a starter, and has posted a 2.03 ERA in seven home starts this year.

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